BHCofCCC History

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ELGAR PARK CRICKET CLUB

(FORMERLY KNOWN AS BOX HILL CHURCH OF CHRIST CRICKET CLUB)

The Box Hill Church of Christ was established as a church in 1911, serving the greater area of Box Hill. By 1917 the church had grown sufficiently to provide activities for its young people, with the establishment of a young men’s group under the title of Kappa Sigma Pi. This first year an Australian Rules football team was established.

In the summer of 1922 Ray Mc Intosh, while playing with Doncaster Heights cricket club, arranged for the formation of a cricket team. This time being the back end of the 1921/22 season, the club did not enter a formal competition.  Matches were organised between members of the church, (i.e. Marrieds vs Singles,) or other local cricket clubs.

Information on this period is limited to local newspaper articles.  Details of what maybe the first match played by the club was recorded in The Reporter newspaper of 3^rd February 1922. This was a game against Doncaster Juniors Cricket Club. Players mentioned playing for Box Hill were Ray Mc Intosh, Eric Buckmaster, & Jack Henley Snr.  Ray’s brother Murray Mc Intosh (who later joined the club) played for Doncaster Juniors.

A report in The Reporter newspaper of 1^st December 1922, suggests that for the 1922/23 season the club entered a team in the Booroondara Cricket Association. However later reports suggest that the club withdrew from this association before the commencement of the season & again played social matches by arrangement.  There are some reports in The Reporter newspaper noting details of these matches.

The foundation members of the club were all local people living in the area.  They were of a working class background, with the area comprising of orchards, factories & retail shops.  The transport of the time was limited, so players either walked, road bikes, or horse & carts to attend matches. For longer distance matches players were asked to meet at the train station & travel to the match by train.

The first matches were played at O’Regans Paddock, which situated in rural surroundings, was located off Middebrough Road Box Hill, adjacent to Margaret Street. There were no ground hire fees at that time or any subs paid.

The club began its first season of competitive cricket in the season of 1923/24 when it entered a team in the Eastern Suburbs Sunday Schools Cricket Association under the title of Box Hill Church of Christ KSP.  An Amalgamation with other local associations in 1924/25 saw this association become the East Suburban Churches Cricket Association.  The club played in this association until the season of 1929/30, when the club moved to the Churches of Christ Cricket Association for 1 season. 

During this period the club moved grounds to an oval situate at Middlebrough Park, now part of the Box Hill Cemetery grounds.  The club won its first Premiership in 1924/25 & repeated this performance in 1925/26, nearly winning a third straight season losing the 1926/27 final to Surrey Hills Congregational C.C.  Newspaper reports list many fine performances with both the bat & the ball. Items of note were: Ray Mc Intosh taking 58 wickets in 1923/24, Ray & Murray Mc Intosh playing in Inter-Association matches that same season, Murray Mc Intosh wining the Association Batting averages for 1924/25, the trio of Ray Mc Intosh, Arthur Langley & Norman Wiese taking a combined total of 155 wickets to win a Premiership in 1924/25.

The 1930/31 season saw the club move Associations & enter two teams into The Reporter Cricket Association, (now known as the Box Hill Reporter District Cricket Association), under the Name of Box Hill Church of Christ KSP.  One team was listed in B Grade & one team in Section 2 of C Grade. The B Grade team made the finals, but lost the Semi-Final to Warrandyte.  The following season saw the club drop the 2^nd team only to reinstate it for the 1932/33 season.  1933/34 again saw the listing of only one team & this remained the norm until 1948/49.

Although this period of play was during the great depression, the first team was always immaculately attired & much pride was taken in personal presentation.  All of the cricket gear used was kept in excellent condition.  On many occasions players had to travel back many miles to play a Saturday match, as work was scarce.

The 1935/36 season was one of change & success. It could be coined as the start of a golden period for the club.  In 1935 the Middlebourgh Park ovals were closed & transferred to the Box Hill Cemetery Trust.  The club was allocated a ground in the Surrey Park precinct, which then number as many as nine ovals.  The club would later move to the Box Hill High School oval (now known as Whitehorse Reserve (Howard Wilson Oval), which would be its traditional home for many years.

This season also saw the club win its first Premiership in the Reporter Association & move into A Grade.  Ray Mc Intosh returned to the club winning the Association bowling average, while Keith Nielsen won the Batting Award & Award for highest score in the grade. Keith’s brother Maurice also had a fine season & they both joined with long time players such as Gordon Gray, Roy Langley & Eric Hammond to record a successful season.

1936/37 saw the club progress well through the season without making it to the finals. At this time Ray Mc Intosh was selected to be a practice bowler for the Australian & English cricket team, when the English cricket team toured Australia that summer. 

In 1937/38 the club made the finals, only to lose the semi-final to Mitcham Cricket club.

In 1938/39 the club again made the finals & again played Mitcham in the semi-final. This match was a tight affair & we were able to reverse the defeat of a year ago. In the final we defeated Templestowe to win our first of 3 A Grade Premierships.  Maurice Nielsen won the Association Batting averages, while Keith Nielsen recorded the highest score with 178 not out.

In 1939/40 the club again reached the finals & again played Mitcham in the semi-final.  Maurice Nielsen top scored with 148 from the openers spot & 5 wickets from his brother Keith enable a 1^st innings win by 156 runs.  Playing against Blackburn in the final a top order collapse was arrested by Rob Pettifer (81*) & Gordon Gray (74) which gave the club a good lead on 1^st innings, which enabled the club to record an outright result & defend the Premiership won a season ago.  Keith Nielsen won both the Batting & Bowling Association awards & Maurice Nielsen won the highest score award with 148. Maurice & Keith Nielsen, & Robert Pettifer all scored more than 500 total runs for the season.

In 1940/41 the club reached the finals for a 3^rd year in a row. This season we played against Mitcham in the final & not the semi-final.  Mitcham had performed well in their semi & a tight match was expected.  However the trio of Robert Pettifer, Keith & Maurice Nielsen had other ideas.  Mitcham batted first & were bundled out for 84, with Robert Pettifer taking 6 of the 10 wickets on offer.  In our 1^st innings Maurice Nielsen recorded 116, while Keith Nielsen recorded 108, this along with other efforts produced a lead Mitcham were unable to cover.  At Association level Robert Pettifer won both the Batting & Bowling Awards, plus the highest score with 218 not out.

Information for the 1941/42 season is thin & not noted in club records. Club minutes & newspaper reports note that the club entered a team & played matches, but did not make finals.  It is also though that the club disbanded at the end of the season.  This was thought to be due to the 2^nd world war that was raging at the time.  All Associations & Teams were struggling to field teams with many members killed or serving with the armed forces overseas.

Club minutes note that the club reformed for the 1943/44 season under the name of Box Hill Church of Christ cricket club, with the club entering a team in the Box Hill Reporter Association.  The club had moderate success going forward & remained in A Grade until the 1949/50 season.  Up until 1948/49 the club had only fielded 1 team in the association.  At this time a second team was formed which consisted of players under the age of 21 & was initially captained by Ray Mc Intosh.

The 1950s & 1960s saw the club have moderate success on the ground reaching 8 finals & winning 5 Premierships mostly in our 1^st eleven.  In the 1966/67 season the club entered an Under 16 team into the Association. Previously the Association commenced an Under 16 competition in 1948/49, of which the club had entered a team, which had little success. The club did not enter a team in the following seasons.

From this season the club entered Junior Teams in varying age groups, with the only recorded Premiership being in 1967/68, where the Under 16 Team defeated Vermont.  Other Junior Teams have reached finals, but were defeated by better teams.  There have been periods, due to player numbers, that the club had not been able to enter junior teams. Currently the club is doing fine in this area.

Since the 1970s the club’s ability to field Senior & Junior Teams has ebbed & flowed. At one point the club grew to 3 Senior teams & 2 Junior teams, but in the early 1990s this began to subside.

In 1989/90 changes to the transport needs of the area saw the approval of the construction of the Eastern freeway.  As a result tenants of grounds in its path were relocated. One such club were the Box Hill archers who requested the ground at Sparks Reserve, where East Box Hill Cricket Club was housed.  As a result East Box Hill lobbied the council to be allocated the Whitehorse Reserve. Much to our distain East Box Hill was granted their request & we moved to the South East oval at Elgar Park to share the area with Box Hill North Cricket Club.

Our early time at Elgar Park saw the club diminish back to a 1 team club & with the loss of our junior players from season 2004/05 the future of the club looked bleak.  An approach from the Box Hill North Amateur Football club, gave an injection of players & the start of a happy relationship that proved advantageous for both clubs. 

At the end of the 2005/06 season it was felt by some members that the club name of Box Hill Church of Christ was no longer appropriate.  The church had changed its name by this time & very few of its members played at the club.  A vote was put at the Annual General Meeting & a resolution was pasted to change the name to Elgar Park Cricket Club.

The ensuing season brought a number of fine players back to the club & new ones joined. As a result the club has been able to reach the final on 5 occasions & win 3 Premierships.  Further the club has been able to re-establish a junior program, commencing with the Milo program, which has brought a number of new players & families to our club.

At the start of the 2012/13 season the club found itself in a predicament, with the loss of several valued players & a lake of committed people to attend to off field duties.  The club committee had to seek other options.  A discussion had already taken place with Doncaster Cricket Club regarding combining junior players into 1 team. Thus these discussions quickly changed to talk of a merger of the 2 clubs.  By the end of September 2012, the members of both clubs voted to agree to a merger & enter the new season as the Doncaster Saints Cricket Club.

Margaret Mc Intosh, club Life Member & Patron of the Association, spoke concerning the merger & noted that in some ways a circle for her family had been completed.  Ray Mc Intosh had once played for a Doncaster Cricket Club.  In Ray Mc Intosh’s time at the club he has been a fine player, club Captain, club secretary for 7 years, while also Association secretary for 23 years. The Mc Intosh Shield is also named after him, along with the R J Mc Intosh Memorial Trophy.

Other longstanding members have been Bob Clare, George Clare (longstanding Treasurer), Sid & Frank Barker, Eric Hammond & his son Bob Hammond, Gordon & Jack Gray, Murray Farmer, Stephen Hockham, Derek Minter, Lindsay Hone, Jason & Kali Irish.

So far the merger appears to be successful as both clubs respect the history & success of the other. It has given the members of the Elgar Park cricket club new & fresh options both on & off the field. It has enabled the Doncaster Club to grow with the influx of players both young & old.